HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



doors. I now amend the soil, and sprinkling 

 it with a dash of ammoniacal water, sow in it 

 the Cockscomb, Peppers, Egg-plants, and 

 whatever fastidious plants require special care, 

 while along the edges I prove my over-kept 

 cabbage and clover seed. All these make their 

 way, and in due time come to their season of 

 potting, when I give up my little garden to a 

 careless array of the first laughing flowers of 

 spring. 



Can you tell me of so small a window any- 

 where that shows so many stages of growth? 

 Nor have I named all even yet. A rustic arch, 

 steep as the Rialto at Venice, overleaps this 

 tiny garden, and bears upon its centre a minia- 

 ture Swiss chalet, while down either flank, 

 upon successive steps, are little bronze memen- 

 tos of travel — among which the delicate ten- 

 drils of a German-ivy (planted upon a ledge 

 of its own) intertwine and toss their tender 

 leaflets into the doors and windows of the 

 chalet. 



But I am lingering in-doors, when my book 

 is essentially an out-of-door book. 



I am not about to lay down any rules for 

 flower-beds or for flower culture; the gar- 

 dening books are full of them; and by their 

 aid, and that of a dexterous gardener, any 



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